Three boo's for the captain!
Letters from Iraq, 1946-7
George Horrobin writing a letter in his camp in Iraq
Reproduced by kind permission of Tricia Leonard
A box of all the letters George Horrobin sent back to his family
Reproduced by kind permission of Tricia Leonard
A selection of letters by George Horrobin. Click to see fullsize.
Reproduced by kind permission of Tricia Leonard
George Horrobin served as a wireless mechanic in Squadron 226 of the RAF. He wrote letters back to his family from numerous overseas posts, including Habbania in Iraq.
His letters cover everyday life in the camp, and he included drawings and sketches of the camp as well.
Cattle and the captain
Here he is writing about being shepherded onto a landing-craft at Port Said in March, 1946:
"We were marched onto a landing craft affair - the same one that brought us to 1 camp. There was an army captain packing us in and he was shouting that he wanted to get 700 of us on the thing.
We weren't in the mood to be pushed around and we started our 'cattle' tactics again. We mooed and baa'd and made various other animal noises. We were packed so tight that I lost hold of my kit bag, but there was no room for it to fall down! As soon as we rushed off someone shouted '3 cheers for the captain' and we gave him 3 hearty boo's! We shouted various comments as the distance between him and us broadened."
Want to know more?
The complete Letter in the Attic catalogue will be available online by 5 December 2008.
This page was added on 17/11/2007.